Saturday, 25 August 2012

Bookworm: Catching the Sun by Tony Parsons

On purchasing the e-book version of this fictional tale I’d already seen on review sites it wasn’t too popular and there weren’t many fans.

However, it featured Thailand and seemed a nice easy beach read so I decided to go ahead.

Well the book blurb explains the story revolves around the Finn family and features a former taxi driver in the UK moving with his family to Thailand to live, but it’s not quite the paradise they thought.

There are a lot of descriptions of Thailand – some I could identify with as I holidayed in this amazing location. However, many seemed a bit odd or far-fetched. I can’t really comment too much on them as the story is based in Phuket – somewhere I haven’t been.

Unfortunately the story itself is a little dull and it switches so many times between the family’s life in the UK and Thailand and even the start of the book seems to be in an odd place. Although the story itself is an easy read and not very taxing, it’s not necessarily the most enjoyable book ever as you kind of end up feeling a bit like you don’t really care.

The characters are okay, but I didn’t particularly warm to anyone in particular.

Good points
Some nice descriptions of Thailand
Easy to read on the beach when relaxing – not taxing at all

Not so great
Story not that interesting
Characters quite dull
Some events are quite far-fetched

Overall, the book is good if you want something that isn’t hard to read and doesn’t require much effort. If you want to learn about Thailand, reminisce about your holiday or get your teeth into a meaty read – don’t choose this book.